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Serena
Serena is a character in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. History Serena was the last of the Golden Hinds. She was able to transform between the appearance of the Hind and a mortal. Ares rescued her when Zeus, fearing the blood of the Hinds that could kill a god, killed the rest of her kind. She then became a servant of Ares (who had turned Serena into a mortal) until she encountered Hercules. The touch of normal mortals caused Serena to transform involuntarily from her human form to that of the Hind but Hercules' touch did not. The two fell in love, angering Ares (HTLJ "Encounter"). Serena allowed herself to be transformed forever into a human, making the Golden Hinds extinct, so that she could marry Hercules. Hercules, in turn, was forced to give up his half-god strength. The couple were married as Iolaus watched on (HTLJ "When a Man Loves a Woman"). Shortly thereafter, during Serena and Hercules' honeymoon, Strife was able to enter Hercules' dreams and cause him to murder Serena in her sleep. Eventually, with the help of Xena, Hercules was able to uncover that Strife was the real murderer. Zeus, in return, restored his son's strength. However, since Serena had been killed by a god, Zeus was unable to bring her back to life. Hercules created a grave for her and Xena sang at her funeral (HTLJ "Judgment Day"). Later, Hercules used the Kronos stone to travel back in time. He witnessed Zeus's murder of the other Golden Hinds and Ares taking Serena under his wing upon turning her into a human and wrapping her naked body in his cloak while telling her to head to his temple. Ares believed that Hercules had traveled back in time to get Hind's blood to use against him in the future so he tried to kill Serena. When Serena is wounded by Ares' dagger and regresses back to her Golden Hind form, Hercules made a deal with Ares to save her life while commenting that she became his wife in the future. Serena would be made entirely mortal so her blood could not harm a god. When Hercules returned to his present, he discovered that Serena had made the most of her life, that she had married and had a daughter. Unsurprisingly, however, Serena did not remember the way things were, and only knew Hercules as the one who helped her years before. Hercules told Autolycus that she was "the best thing that never happened" to him. (HTLJ "The End of the Beginning"). Background *Serena was played by Sam Jenkins in most of her appearances and by Kara Zediker in "The End of the Beginning", including the "present day" scenes. Jenkins also played Sin, a being who assumed Serena's appearance, in "Be Deviled". **Jenkins declined to return to the role because she disliked the Golden Hind makeup, hence the recasting with Zediker. Jenkins returned to the role when transformation wasn't required, and when playing "Sin". *Serena is original to the series and has no parallels in mythology. The only part of her storyline that was based on a mythological incident was her death, which may have been a nod to Megara, Heracles's first wife, who in some versions was killed by him in a fit of madness. Gallery File:Encounter_02.jpg|Serena as the Golden Hind in "Encounter" File:Encounter_03.jpg|Serena Saves a Boy in "Encounter" File:Encounter_04.jpg|Hercules and Serena in "Encounter" File:Encounter_06.jpg|Serena Saves Iolaus in "Encounter" File:Encounter_12.jpg|With Hercules in "Encounter" File:Man_loves_01.jpg|Hercules Proposes in "When a Man Loves a Woman" File:Man_loves_07.jpg|With Ares in "When a Man Loves a Woman" File:Man_loves_14.jpg|Marrying Hercules in "When a Man Loves a Woman" File:Judgment_day_02.jpg|With Hercules and Iolaus in "Judgment Day" File:Judgment_day_06.jpg|Murdered in "Judgment Day" File:Ap-htlj-3-19-the-end-of-the-beginning-004.jpg|As the Golden Hind in "The End of the Beginning" File:Zediker_Serena.jpg|Serena in "The End of the Beginning" File:End_beginning_08.jpg|Healing in "The End of the Beginning" File:End_beginning_12.jpg|With Hercules in "The End of the Beginning" File:End_beginning_15.jpg|With Hercules in "The End of the Beginning" Appearances * HTLJ: "Encounter" * HTLJ: "When a Man Loves a Woman" * HTLJ: "Judgment Day" * HTLJ: "The End of the Beginning" * HTLJ: "My Best Girl's Wedding" Category:Golden Hinds Category:HTLJ characters Category:Mortals Category:Mothers Category:Female